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Ukraine’s Customs Code of 11 July
2002 never saw its tenth anniversary: on 1 June 2012, a new Customs Code adopted on 13 March 2012
took effect in Ukraine.
First of all, the new Customs
Code contains a number of changes and novelties regarding regulation of customs
relations. Below is a brief description of the ten most important of them.
1. Cancellation of "serfdom" (s. 247 (3))
The new Customs Code has cancelled the obligation to perform customs
clearance of goods in the place of accreditation at customs office only.
Applicants can now undergo customs clearance at any customs authority.
2. Authorized economic
operators (ss. 12-18)
Applicants who have a good
history of relations with customs authorities and meet the criteria specified
in the Customs Code can gain the status of an authorized economic operator.
The authorized economic
operator status gives an applicant the right to use special simplifications in
customs procedures such as: the right to priority customs clearance or
reduction of the amount of data to be submitted to a customs authority before
the arrival of goods to the customs territory of Ukraine.
3. The exhaustive list of documents to be required by the customs
authorities in respect of customs value (s.
53)
The new Customs Code has
provided (ii) a list of documents to be submitted by applicants to confirm the
customs value, as well as (ii) a list of documents that can be required from
applicants by the customs authorities if there are doubts about the accuracy in
identifying the customs value.
The Customs Code contains an
express provision according to which customs authorities are forbidden to
demand from applicants any other documents than those specified in the said
lists.
In light of the recent
practice, according to which customs authorities demanded applicants to submit
calculations of the price of goods to confirm the customs value, it is
noteworthy that the Customs Code gives customs authorities the right to do so only
in the event of transactions involving related persons.
4.
Reduction of the customs clearance time to 4 hours (s. 255)
The new Customs Code has
reduced the customs clearance time from twenty-four hours to 4 working hours.
5.
Electronic declaration (s. 257)
This is the first time that
the possibility of electronic declaration using an electronic digital signature
has been provided on the Customs Code level. It has been established that a
customs declaration and other documents submitted to customs authorities have
equal legal force if prepared in hard-copy format or as electronic documents.
6.
Customs consultations (s. 21)
Similar to the Tax Code, the
new Customs Code has introduced the concept of customs consultations (consultations
on state customs issues). Consultation are divided into individual and
generalized. The latter are approved by an order of the State Customs Service
of Ukraine.
A person acting in accordance
with the individual or generalized customs consultation is released from
liability for non-compliance with the customs legislation.
7.
Presumption of innocence (s. 8)
Once again, following the Tax
Code, the new Customs Code has introduced presumption of innocence. The Code
does not explain the exact meaning of such a presumption. However, it will be
logical to assume that due to presumption of innocence, applicants will be
deemed innocent of breaking the customs legislation until the customs authorities
prove the opposite.
8.
Exemption from liability for errors in customs declarations (s.s. 268 and 460)
According to the new Customs
Code, an applicant is exempt from liability for errors made in a customs declaration,
provided that such errors:
- do not result in the applicant’s unlawful exemption
from customs payments or reduction of their amount, or in failure to ensure
compliance with arrangements related to tariff and/or non-tariff regulation of
foreign economic activities;
- are not made on a regular
basis.
Customs authority employees
should allow applicants to correct such mistakes made in a customs declaration.
9.
Possibility to file an additional customs declaration (s. 261)
The new Customs Code provides
the possibility of filing an additional customs declaration where information
required for determining the final customs value will only be known after the
goods have been released into free circulation (for example, after the
payment/accrual of royalty or other license payments determined based on the
volume of sales/proceeds from sales). In this event, an applicant has the right
to file a customs declaration within 180 days from the date of release of the
relevant goods into free circulation.
The possibility of filing an
additional customs declaration is also provided where the price value in a
foreign economic agreement is determined according to a formula and is not
known as of the declaration date. In this case, an additional declaration is
filed within 90 days from the date of release of the relevant goods into
free circulation.
10. Post
audit (sections 345-354)
This is the first time that
issues related to conducting a post audit, i.e. desk audit performed by customs
authorities following completion of customs clearance, have been regulated on
the Customs Code level.
Regulation of audits resembles
to a large extent regulation of the relevant issues in the Tax Code. The
Customs Code provides for performing remote and field audits and cross-reconciliations.
Field audits are divided into scheduled and
unscheduled.
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